ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—City Council voted Oct. 29 to table a resolution to accept over $600,000 in federal grant funds to hire four firefighters, postponing a decision to Nov. 12—one day before a federal deadline and nearly two months after being notified of the grant funding.
At least twice on Oct. 29, Mayor Michael Wildes called for an “emergency meeting” to address the issue but no action was taken.
Council voted 3-1 to table the grant acceptance resolution, with Michael Cohen opposed. Councilwoman Cheryl Rosenberg was absent.
Members said they needed to more fully consider the grant funding award decision before they could decide whether to accept the grant.
City attorney Bill Bailey said the matter would be discussed in closed session Oct. 29 following the public meeting.
At one point several members, including Councilman Charles Cobb, wondered why the resolution to accept grant funds was listed when members were not ready to vote.
Council President Katharine Glynn said there was “advice provided” to put the resolution up for a vote, and noted the council needed more time to research all the provisions required by the grant.
Bailey said the city received a 30-day extension from FEMA to make a decision on the grant, which expires Nov. 13.
At its last meeting, council members requested clarity on grant conditions—including how many firefighters need to be hired—and were told by Bailey that a 30-day extension to accept the grant had been requested.
Fire Chief Erik Enersen was present Oct. 29 and Councilman Michael Cohen asked if he might address the council to provide grant information.
Council President Glynn said the council should “consider this on our own” and reach out to Enersen if questions arose. Enersen left the meeting without comment following the council’s vote to table the matter.
FEMA: staffing levels?
Previously, Federal Emergency Management Agency SAFER grant officials said Englewood Fire Department and city officials must agree to a “maintenance level/staffing number” for the fire department in order to accept the grant.
That number—repeatedly mentioned in the city firefighters’ grant application—appears to be 59 firefighters on staff, based on National Fire Protection Association standards.
“These are funds that will get us firefighters for three years,” said Wildes Oct. 31.
The federal grant provides funding for four new firefighters for three years, including 75 percent funding for two years and 35 percent funding in year three. FEMA officials note a fire department is not required to maintain the new positions following grant expiration but future staffing costs may play a role in council’s decision to accept or reject the 607,659.00 in federal grant funds.
‘Woefully low’ staffing
Wildes said that currently the city fire department has “woefully low” staffing which creates “crushing overtime and health [issues] that could have dangerous consequences…I don’t get it,” he told Northern Valley Press of council’s delay accepting the grant.
The mayor said hiring four firefighters via the grant might help with ongoing litigation filed against Englewood by 10 of 15 firefighters terminated in April.
The 10 firefighters filed suit in May to get their jobs back, alleging “wrongful termination” since they were hired “conditionally” in January and fired in April due to an unapproved city budget.
Discrimination charged
The firefighters’ attorney Michael Prigoff contends firing the firefighters was done in response to calls from at least two groups, the Jabari Society and NAACP-Bergen Chapter, to provide a preference to hire residents and African-Americans.
The 11 candidates originally selected—based on a 2016 firefighters’ exam—were white and one Hispanic.
A residency preference ordinance was passed May 21 by City Council to hire residents before hiring any non-resident. Previously, residents were given an extra six points on a firefighter exam but received no resident preference. Prigoff contends the ordinance is invalid because it limits current non-resident firefighters from promotions in lieu of resident firefighters, violating state law.
Also, Prigoff contends since the terminated firefighters never violated any condition of their hiring—and were provided gear fittings, a firehouse tour, and told to quit their jobs—that they were effectively hired and then fired. City attorneys contend the firefighters were not officially hired by the city.
Grant: Hiring 11 firefighters
Throughout its 24-page grant application submitted in late March for federal SAFER funding to hire four firefighters, the city makes repeated reference to its plan to hire 11 firefighters, which together with four firefighters to be funded by the SAFER grant, would bring firefighter staffing up to 59, a standard recommended by the National Fire Protection Association.
Prigoff said he was “surprised” that the city did not accept the $607,659 grant. He said the department admitted in its grant application being “woefully understaffed” and needed to hire 15 additional firefighters, including the 11 it later terminated and four firefighters the grant would fund.
“Despite all of this, they hired and then dismissed the 11 firefighters after telling them to quit their jobs to attend the fire academy and now are delaying accepting the SAFER grant, while the public and members of the Department continue to be endangered by inadequate staffing in response to fire calls, not to mention unnecessarily high insurance premiums and twice the overtime expense of the previous year. The longer they delay re-hiring my clients and accepting the SAFER grant, the longer these conditions will be allowed to exist,” said Prigoff in a statement.
An Oct. 9 email from city Fire Department Capt. Jeff Kaplan to a FEMA grant official officially requested a 30-day decision extension. Oct. 13 was the original decision deadline.
The extension request email is copied to Fire Chief Erik and interim City Manager Jewel Thompson-Chin. Northern Valley Press received the email Oct. 21 after a public records request made Oct. 9.
‘Have an answer shortly’
“The City is conferring with legal counsel on some pending litigation which is preventing the immediate decision on whether the City can proceed. We hope to have an answer shortly…thanks again for the patience,” wrote Kaplan on Oct. 9.
In early October, Bailey said because there were different fire department staffing numbers provided in the city’s approved grant than exist now, the city needed to clarify what hiring it’s required to do once it accepts SAFER funding.